Greek Art Online
by Henry Uchiha
Summary: Greek art online: A haven for monsters, heroes, mortals and of course, the gods. The myth given life and the world taken back. When two best friends find history repeating itself when they are trapped in a world from which, there is apparently no escape. Will old heroes come to their aid and help them escape? Or for them, will the virtual world become their new reality?
1. Chapter 1

**So hi everyone! Thanks for taking the time to read my story! I've looked forward to writing this, and hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it! This chapter is mainly a prologue to introduce our characters and their home, and how they get stuck in their situation. Next chapter is where their new life begins. Hope you like it! Warning: **story contains, OC's, BoyxBoy (don't like, then don't read), swearing, violence and mentions of abuse, character death and ratings may be turned up at a later time. Hope you have a nice day/night wherever you are!****

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He turned with a great sadness in his eyes as the soft summer breeze rustled the inky locks of his hair with a gentle caress. His half lidded peachy eyes slowly giving in as all life in those once great emerald orbs now seemed to finally give way.

It was so strange to him that he felt no pain as the words sat heavy in his mouth. The cold in his chest clawing and crawling from the crimson expanse of his showing heart. His slightly rouge lips, no longer tense or beaten into a hard line of fear. His limp hands, open and catching the final moments of the breeze. "Better dead and forgotten than just a shadow." His diamond tongue whispered.

He became still, porcelain skin drying out with colour as from the open expanse, the shinning crimson of his heart faded to a dull, wilting brown. Slowly large cracks forming on his lean body. The bare black shirt which had once kept him warm now betrayed him as it was ripped from his torso and vanished on the adventure of the wind.

He didn't care... All he could do was raised and twist his hand as he watched his finger tips becoming broken and crumbling into nothing less than lifeless waste. Slowly deep veins ebbing away as the crumbled remains became nothing more than a stump of his wrist.

A missing elbow.

A vanished arm.

And so on it carried till the boy began to slow fall back. His eyes watching the cloud great sky with sadness as even the warm sunlight flailed away from him.

Even as the last of the breaking body reached his face so that only his eye was left, he still knew and stood by the actions.

But then there was nothing.

Nothing more than a pile of autumn leafs blowing away on a forgotten summers breeze.

 _ **-End of the Dream-**_

" _Close your eyes. I know what you see. The darkness is high and you're in ten feet deep."_

The rain outside slowly pattered against the coffins as tears fell in line.

" _But we've survived more terrible monsters than sleep. And you know I, will be here to tell you to breathe."_ I looked to the heavens as my own tears mingled with the roses people placed on the obsidian lids. " _Tu sei mio soldatino, La ragione per cui vivo."_

" _You're my little soldier. The reason I live."_ People whispered shakily as I in turn walked forward and placed my rose down. _"Non ti scordar di me."_

" _Don't forget me."_ Their quiet voices roamed over the graveyard around us as I watched the rose covered boxes slip slowly into the ground yet I still had to continue singing even though my heart was breaking with every new word. _"Io vegliero su di te."_

" _I'm watching over you."_ I clenched my fists as I watched as others stepped forward throwing a handful of dirt into the graves. Lightning flashed through the sky with the faint roll of thunder as I sobbed quietly as I could sing no more but couldn't help as I crouched in between both of the holes feeling a strong hand support my shoulder. "I will miss you." I kissed the edges of my fingers and rested them on both markers that stood before me. "When cloudless skies thunder." I turned to face the other marker, "Stand fast and strong."

"Come on young one." A voice holding my families accent curled above me. "It's time to go."

"Carry on. I need a bit of time"

"But my dear-"

"GO!" I snarled and watched as the people quickly stepped back away from me fearfully, but still cast me sympathetic glances as they trudged away under the cover of umbrellas while I took on the full torrent of the rainfall.

For a minute it stayed like that. The rain pounding violently against my skin like small picks of ice, trying to rise blood to my skin. My eyes bleary with tears and with the knowledge that this was it. The final acceptance. The disbelief that I could have had before was now gone, replaced only with the fury and knowledge that I could no longer hide from the truth.

But that didn't mean that I didn't try.

At the edge of the clearing I took notice of another boy. He was dressed completely in black and his brown curls fell across his eyes so I couldn't make out their colour. To say he was handsome would have been an understatement. It seemed as though the whole air gravitated towards him. But still that meant nothing no more. Appearance was nothing, image was nothing.

I knew his soul.

As the rain fell harder my eyes began to adjust. "Was it you?" I whispered knowing perfectly well that he could hear me.

He didn't budge.

My cold, fake contact lens hidden gaze locked on him, white the pounding of my heart and down pour began to feel almost painful. The hatred inside of me could have once painted me clear, but no longer it seemed was it that obvious. "Was it you?" I whispered out to the storm, not expecting a response but genuinely being surprised when the figure made a nod of his head and my gaze changed into a boring scorch. I felt heated tears cloud my sight and my throat close up with hatred..

I knew what he was.

What we were.

What he had made us to be in a place where we didn't belong.

Or so I had thought so at the beginning.

 _ **-Four years previously-**_

"We're on a cruise. One of the best cruise that money can buy." A voice growled dominantly above the sound of the sea breeze which roared in across the freshly laid floorboards of the deck. "And you want... to go back to your room and play on your games."

In the pale evening light of the top deck observation platform, three lone figures stood, rigid and all tensed with each other. The tension around them was easy even at a first glance; a man dressed in a suit with close cut brown hair, his body wrapped in an expensive suit which almost cost as much as the cruise itself! A black jacket suit which matched the coldness of his eyes. He held a glistening fresh glass of champagne in his hand and held his body language as though time and the world itself bowed down and belonged to him.

The woman next to him kept a cold sneer along her rouge lips. Her red dress flowed out behind her, catching on the breeze and blowing with it like a dance in the light. Small jewels in the materials made the light radiate around her all the more. Her curls of golden locks fell and rose like her dress as with her stunning beauty she turned her snob like look onto her own child, albeit that she profusely refused the fact that anything like him could have at all come from someone like her. With eyes as emerald as the sea, she seemed to find herself such an winter beauty. So harsh and cold, like a rose; petals and thorns. Though she knew how beautiful she was, and that had given way to her ego a long time ago.

Last among the three was the least suspecting and most surprising sight of all of the three, at least, only if the first two were anything to go by for expectations.

A middle height and hard eye boy. His golden orbs of eyes glittering in the moonlight as the intense and warm colour of his eyes which dripped like liquid sunlight was rather strange to compare to that of his silver blond hair which shined as though the moon itself had kissed it and bathed it deeply. The kid was small at first sight but only if you didn't notice the way he was deceptively built. Not well toned but still lean and smooth. Like that of a dancer or a swimmer.

He wore a simple plain white t-shirt and a black jacket with matching finger-less midnight black gloves which stretched up to his elbows. The sleeves of his jacket were rolled back. Like his matched ensemble of white and black, he wore a black studded belt through his matching dark leather jeans. His shoes were simple but elegant with a slight raise on the back to give him a small ounce of extra height.

His gaze was hardened and pointed like a blade as his strange golden eyes bore into his mother and father. His fingers flexed out erratically as the anger churned from deep within his core and along him like a raging fire. "As if you weren't a common enough piece. How do we explain to the other families?" His father exclaimed, resting back against the side barrier, the sea painted dark like ink behind him.

The words were on the tip of his tongue. Nothing but a small push away; _Tell them that you both are nothing but the real scum. That your son wishes he could kill you as easily as he could kill others on games._

The words tasted great on his tongue. Delicious. He could feel them slipping out, fighting against his self restraint.

Finally, after years of abuse. The beatings. The humiliation. Living with the knowledge that he was nothing. His life meant nothing. That his worth was nothing. It could be broken by these few seconds!

The boy however just turned away as he did with most of his problems, and began the slow walk back towards his cabin. His gaze not moving to look over his shoulder where his parents just stared at him as though he was the biggest waste of space on this earth.

But then again, they had told him that enough times now that he believed it.

He contemplated that as he moved along the deck of the boat, looking for the grand staircase to go and duck back into his room wherever he could.

How pathetic was he? The son of a wealthy father who ran and owned most business companies this side of the English channel. The British boy who was often in the news papers, more often than none having a camera shoved near his face to try and get a photo of him. Just because of his mother and father. Yeah, and as if that wasn't enough pressure, then his mother; the woman who loathed him more than she loathed having commoners around her, (and that went to say something).

The only reason he wasn't ripped out before birth was simply the reason that his mother didn't want the story thrown in with her reputation.

They told him that he should consider the fact that he is breathing a lucky fact, a fact also that he owed them so he should stop being a constant let down.

He gritted his teeth and threw his arms behind his head, his elbows pointing to the stars above. _Yeah, I consider myself really lucky. I'm alone. I spend all my time alone. I'm a mistake, admitted to by my parents, I'm a monster. Nothing else but that... the fact that I have nothing that holds me back from knowing that? It's why I'm so good at being one._

His eyes full of their own river of hatred that he barely even managed to grab his phone just as the final notes of his ring tone went off. He groaned slightly and felt his phone vibrate in his pocket once again, before pulling it out and staring down at the screen of his phone where the message alert had gone off: ' _Happy Birthday Crudele!- Titan Slayer'_

Of course his name wasn't Crudele, it was only the last name of his username he went by, but the one person he actually found stand able in this stinking life that he had been forced into. The one time he had managed to sneak away into the streets of New York when his family had been on vacation there.

Now here she was.

The only family he really actually had.

 _'Doesn't feel so happy to me- Crudele Rosa'  
'Oh cheer up! I'm here to make your day all the better!- Titan Slayer'  
'Oh really? Please do tell. How so?- Crudele Rosa'  
'I was given the latest update package, and I was given one wish of Hecate with it- Titan Slayer'_

The corridors had all blurred together and at some point he must have turned off down the stairs, because now he was stood outside of his door with wide eyes, staring at his screen with disbelief. _'Are you really giving me what I think you are?- C,R'  
'HAPPY BIRTHDAY! See you online in, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1- T,S'_

By the time he had finished her countdown in his head, he had already thrown himself onto his own bed and already heard the noise of his nearby game console thrumming into life.

Sliding the headset over his head, a faint glint of his initial's: C.R.J, before he blinked through the collar up to the painted ceiling above him. A grin beginning to ear away at his face.

Just before he spoke the magical words and the real world where he belonged finally opened up before him in it's magnificent reality... or virtual reality as it would be.

 _ **-Break-**_

A lone figure sat in there room, smiling to themselves as they looked at their computer screen. A smile split their face as they threw their arms behind their head, their pearly teeth shined as their black hair ran in a long winding curtain, beautifully across their shoulders. their puppy dog brown eyes were filled with joy at making her friend so happy.

Spinning on her chair she let out a delighted giggle.

As she stood up, the light of the bulb in her room washed over her, revealing the strong and well toned thin figure which had a loose 'attack on titan' t-shirt on with a massive picture of the character Captain Levi. Her skin was coco tanned and looked alluring in the dim light, but as she stared at the computer screen, adapting her profile after the updates she had received. "Typical of you, get me into a game I know nothing about and then I come to save your arse." She laughed, smiling from ear to ear still.

She stretched her arms out behind her bed as she slowly rose and walked over to her bed. Her hair fell in the beautiful midnight black waterfall down her back and stopped at her waist as it shimmered in the light of her room. She brought a leg up flexible and examined her toe nails which were painted crimson.

Her mother was out so she knew that she had all the time in the world to do what she did best.

Sliding onto her bed she lazily kicked one leg up in the air, pulling the headset down over her brow like it was a noble crown. Her smile lighting across her face as she heard the monitor next to her whirring into life, the lights in her room being painted out into darkness.

She flicked a small switch in the wall next to her and watched a procession of LED lights blaze into life above her head like miniature exploding stars, all the while the screen over her visor lowered and she felt it secure in place as the console next to her had finished loading. "Link activate." She called out joyously.

And just like that, everything went black around her.

It seemed that for a moment that there was nothing else around her but darkness. Her body stretched out infinitely, her senses going wild looking for something which wasn't there.

But in what felt like next to nothing, a blink of an eye, she stumbled back and found the world of a busy market blazing to life directly in front of her. No longer was she in the small space of her room with a computer.

But a whole brand new impossible world right out there at her finger tips.

Her body felt unusually heavy as she clicked her neck and fingers beneath the purple flowing silk of her cloak. Her feet were wound in leather strapped, but knife pointed heels. Her body on the outside was wrapped with a white trailing dress which covered her surprise of battle from everyone else who only looked at her passing by. To them she was just another beautiful girl passing through the city of Athens on their way to the temple, like many of the others, seemingly just a harmless priestess.

That's right.

Athens.

She beamed as above her in the sky she heard the roar of the great steeds pulling the chariot of Helios, the sun god who seemed in an eager mood to get across the great width and finish his duties.

The fresh marble buildings and various villas around her stood tall and true in one of the greatest cities that Ancient Greece had ever seen. So alive and vibrant that she almost couldn't have believe that it was really there in front of her. No way in reality would she have been able to walk down the cobblestone streets of ancient history.

She had waited a long time to be able to see the gods clearly and now that she could see the giant man wreathed in brilliant and blinding flames, she was certainly not disappointed with what was in front of her. After all, any hero should be able to see those who would just as easily look down at her otherwise.

Greek art online. Bringing the mythology and life of ancient Greece to a virtual reality where Heroes, Demigods and even Monsters would come to serve and play.

The day was beautiful as any other, just as it tended to be when Helios was free to shine down on all of them. It had been for a while though it seemed rare that they got to see the admin... oh that's right. She better explain from the beginning.

The game was run on the principles and stories all left behind by the Ancient Greeks. The gods of the council who were the main Olympians: Zeus, Athena, Hera etc, they were made up by those who had created the game in the first place, the admins. The others gods or minor gods as they were known, were either those who had been granted power by the Olympians or were probably just friends and family. Either way, each pulled their part... so to speak.

They certainly lived up to the reputation of those in the stories they had followed.

They could be cruel or kind. They would watch all the way from the distant mount Olympus to give their 'divine judgement', they had complete control. Over who was mortal, immortal or worse imagined... at least to her, was monster.

She always made sure that she only took the paths along the main roads, always careful to avoid areas where the monster guilds had built there homes, but that meant that she often had trouble with certain cities.

Athens however was the most cultured of the cities... at least she had thought so till the last wave of visits from the cities patron goddess had meant that there had been a few... rumors spreading around.

Sighing softly she made her way down the road, walking past various market stalls where fishermen sold their daily catch. Some men and even some girls whistled to her but she took no notice. No men in this reality seemed to have caught her attention just yet. Besides, how did she actually know that she could trust any of them? In this reality she may be a hero, just like a few of them who went out on quests and proved themselves, but most of them were no better than those from the legends or the gods on Olympus who came down to court the mortals either.

"Ow hey watch it!" She snapped as she was suddenly brought out her thoughts when she bumped shoulders with another boy who was looking around warily. Her eyes were slightly narrowed and she was surprised to see the boy had barely took any notice of her at first. His eyes were just cast up towards the center of the market area, glaring at the sky. "Excuse me?!" She barked at him again, drawing his gaze over.

The boy looked relatively young, spike like black hair, a thin but strong form and frame. He wore a black tunic and cloak around his shoulders, typical beginning gear and outfit for someone looking for their path around here. His eyes were midnight black but seemed to show years than which belonged to them. She knew it was impossible to fake your age on here, just like it was even so more harder to hide your appearance, especially at a beginner level. The boy however seemed to be seeing something she couldn't.

Before he could finally begin to speak, a scream exploded from the center of the nearby Colosseum. That in itself wouldn't normally bring questioning, or be that very different, the Colosseum was an area where players could challenge each other to fights or even summon the monster created class if they had made a contract with that player, or even had a contract with them.

But the scream was something different. Something which there wasn't a lot of around here. It was pure fear.

She frowned and before she could take off running, she found the boy gripped her wrist tightly in warning. "This has happened all before, go, find somewhere safe. Do yourself a favour. If history is repeating itself again, don't get caught up in the middle of it."  
"Wait? What?" She frowned, glaring at him.

But before she knew it she was surprised, turning on the spot finding that she was no longer caught in the market place but now stood at the center of the Colosseum, while the clouds above them began to spark violently with lightning and thunder, churning to resembling a face, devoid of all features except the pit black of a mouth.

Many others seemed to be rising from a crouch like she was, staring at the intense amount of numbers as more and more were being pushed into their seats in the stands. _**"Heroes Welcome. Welcome, to immortality, and eternity."**_ A voice boomed from the face, rumbling like thunder and holding behind it an un-moving amount of amused laughter.  
"Zeus?" She whispered back, finding that she was crammed against the boy who had bumped into her, he was already saying quietly for her to turn and run.

But by the time she turned to look at him, he had already slammed his hand down against the logout button.

Just before about a couple hundred thousand players screamed out, watching the logout button vanish from their game menu, and the storm above them roared with laughter.


	2. Chapter 2

**So hi everyone! Thanks for taking the time to read my story! Warning: **story contains, OC's, BoyxBoy (don't like, then don't read), swearing, violence and mentions of abuse, character death and ratings may be turned up at a later time. Hope you have a nice day/night wherever you are!****

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I don't know what's going on.

Everyone around me looks confused, our hands holding mirrors staring back at the reflections of ourselves. A small floating piece of paper scripted with elegant black ink and long winding text hung next to the reflection, my mind is empty full of confusion but my body is lit up with a roar of panic. Something is wrong, something is completely wrong here. I don't know who I am. I don't know where I am. Everything about my self... my age, my name.

My life. I can't remember it.

Ben then something starts blossoming in my mind. It burns faintly at first, like an ember catching in the breeze, but then it ignites and roars out into my thoughts. _Greek art online._ It whispers in my head. _You're here now. Just let it go. Let everything else go._ It constantly whispers over and over, fragments and parts of my mind returning to me. Part of history, names, stories, they flood into me. But with each new press of information, I find my mind whispering back to me, telling me that I'm only receiving part of the information. Still my mind cries out and aches for the knowledge which it wants most.

It wants it's identity.

This is not real life. I don't know how, I don't know why, but I'm here. I don't know what this is exactly. _**"Welcome. Welcome all of you."**_

Slowly I turn my gaze up and feel my blood turn cold, my eyes becoming wide as some shrieks of fear fill us all. _Zeus, king of the gods._ My mind tells me, but my body screams out anger at me, trying to converge the pieces to my mind. My brain fighting to try and tell me what I'm missing but still all that came was a black darkness. _**"Many of you, I'm sure will now find that you cannot remember much. It is a gift, a gift you will come to be thankful. This world is now self sustaining, complete and solid, at least for all of us now safely locked into it."**_ The voice sounded victorious, so confident and full of power. The black eyes of clouds full of lightning, it sent chills through me and many of the others who had begun to turn and run. _**"I grant you all this gift and this is your thanks?"**_ He asked, his voice still full of amusement. _**"You now have the life you always wanted. See? You all hold it in your palms. But by my mercy I even have one gift left for you, if you are all unhappy. Well, at least to those of you who came to accept my gift first that is. It will not change the way you look, or your appearance but at least you have one last chance to decide your path. Demigod, mortal, or monster. Or even you may join the rank among Olympus. We could do with some servants."**_ The twisted white clouds turned into a smirk.

A faint harsh jab went of in my hand and I growled slightly, like a few others around me out of the many thousands, seeing next to the text box a square box appear. _**"Should you be unhappy, you have one more chance, that's it. No more, and there is only a certain amount of time that my patience will last with this gift. Upon accepting the gift of this world, you all filled out your wish of another life. You had to fill out a box full of a role description, what you would want your life to be. What your life and memories here would be. Those of you who filled it out, you will find yourself quite happy I believe in a few moments. The rest of you, your lack of imagination will cost you now."**_ Laughter boomed around us all and I clamped my hands over my ears, finding the thunder was louder than anything I could have imagined.

I look around and understood immediately what the voice meant, many screamed out holding their heads in agony before they slumped to the ground, their bodies turning grey and hollow, like wisps of smoke. _**"Someone who doesn't even know who they are, are but nothing less than a shadow."** _ The almighty voice laughed. _ **"A heroes role is more than important, but each of you, each of you now have a life here. The life you asked for, the life you wanted. Welcome home my heroes."  
**_ "What happened to us! What happens if we're hurt! WHAT HAPPENS IF-"  
 _ **"History is now your guide. The world of the stories each of you have chosen, for yourself, for this world, it is now what will shape your futures. Your minds, your souls. You are here now. The fates will spin their tapestry and the gods of Olympus will watch over you. Demigods, please your parents. Mortals, praise your gods. Monsters will hunt you and should you fall, just like those who couldn't truly create themselves, they shall be lost to the underworld for the rest of eternity."  
**_ "YOU CAN'T KEEP US HERE!" One boy shouted.  
 _ **"How is it us keeping you here?"**_ The clouds broke out into a sparking grin. _**"You came to us. Now with your mirrors you cannot hide. Your new reality will be here. Now enjoy your path and life. We will be watching. Enjoy your new memories."**_

As the last of the words died on the wind, I watched the clouds dissipate, leaving and turning midnight black as the first touches of rain began to fall drenching everyone under it's down pour, but no one said a word.

Those who had turned a sickly shade of grey sunk through the floor, groaning out as they were lost but my mind was already explaining the knowledge to me. _They are going to the underworld. Spirits to wonder the endless fields of Asphodel. They couldn't make their choice so now they will suffer._ The words grinned in my mind, whispering with my voice but they were not of my own. They were only a cold and harsh factual history.

Then once more I feel the mirror become heavier in my hand, drawing my attention down to my features, should they even really be mine. So far I didn't trust anything I had come across just yet, but my mind took a solace comfort in the image that was returned to me. Sapphire blue eyes which burnt coldly with evident anger. A fringe of black curled hair which stuck up around my indescribably. My skin was slightly pale, like I hadn't seen much sunlight but there were still strong drives of peach tones throughout it. I was slender, some tones of muscle to my arms but other than that there wasn't much about me to notice. Strong and sharp jawline features, not bad looking I guess but that's it and-

I blinked as the box vanished from my grip, leaving behind a message saying I had just used it.

But I didn't even remember touching it... I guess like Zeus, or at least, what ever that had just been before. It hadn't change my physical appearance but now... something felt different. Not quite the same as before, I felt lighter, calmer, more at ease.

 _A lot of this still just doesn't make sense. What had he meant brand new memories-_

But then the piece of paper caught my eye again.

I frowned, beginning to reach out and touch it, like every one else. Thousands of people all moving mechanically to reach out.

And then fall to their knees screaming as their minds exploded with images as the pieces of papers received their final piece to connect and flood the minds of the people.

I was no exception.

The images all flooded my mind so fast it became hard to keep up, to distinguish them as I gripped my head as tightly as I could, it was like a fire behind my eyes. A small boy left to the cliffs as the sea in the middle of a storm ripped away at it. The baby cried out to the sky but there was no one around, or no one to care. The baby wrapped in a shroud of silver and left to call out. So lonely, no one there to care for him.

A child, sat at the table among his adoptive siblings. The mother worked around the table, making sure that she showed more tender love for the boy who she had found at the cliff, loving the boy as much if not even more so than her own blood children from the man she had been forced to marry. With soft brown hair and amber like eyes she watched and smiled, making sure that the boy would always feel that there was someone with a space in their heart for him.

Now here he was, a young bastard, as was his name among the people. Lupo. That was his name... or at least the name that these forged memories now gave him. He was a traveler, moving from town to town, trying to find some meaning. Other than his adoptive mother he had never bonded to many others. Studying the styles of others as he went, he never stayed in one place too long. He moved like in a lone pack.

Memories, so simple and so few at the moment, but so real to him that they could have always been there. The story itself which was being painted through his mind, he knew that they were lies, his mind questioned them instead of accepting them, but the details: not spending too much around others. Not spending too long in one place. Feeling like he didn't fit in. That was all familiar to him.

People were beginning to look around and I guess I could understand what was going on. People were beginning to find themselves divided. It was like waking up from a dream, seeing the world in a fresh light. "We need to get to shelter! Take up the local homes!" Some people called out, beginning to divide themselves apart and spread out.

I didn't know how I felt about that. Some part of me called out, pleading me to consider going with them, but instead I hung back, pressing myself back against the wall of the arena and watching as only a boy and girl stayed on the same level as me while the others fled out. Both looked at each other but were speaking quietly, if barely at all.

The boy was tall with sparkling eyes like gold and hair a shade like nearly that of ice. He wore a black and chained belt tunic with strange symbols of gold sown into the material. When his eyes looked over to me, I quickly sank back into the shadows, making it harder to see me, but something told me that if the boy really cared I had been watching him and the black haired girl who was wearing a purple coat and white dress. Both looked at complete unease, around each other before the boy nodded his head towards the exit and they darted out barely doing anything else, but something must have got to them, because they paused at the gate way, turning back to stare back towards a larger group.

It took me a while to come out of my daze as my mind was still writing the script of what ever story, the previous me had chosen, but I could already hear people shouting at each other, many dispersing from one another. Monsters were vanishing faster than they had appeared in the arena. Heroes were stepping forward, claiming their patron and exclaiming them to be better and start be in charge. But already roles were being divided among people, like their false memories gave them some kind of birthright. I guess I could understand, with this nature from Lupo telling me that even I should turn my back on these people right now and leave.

That I should go out there and find the mother who was never really mine.

It was overwhelming and the more I thought about it, the more I could feel my mind holding onto these forged memories, bringing me fresh ones from what ever life had been decided for me. For whatever fate awaited me. But I could already tell it wasn't among these people who were playing to get the highest end result. Heroes seeking power and names.

Children of Aphrodite, charming their way through the ranks, lining themselves next to those who claimed high status, which pretty much were the other demigods, or heroes who had been Beta testers.

The boy paused for a moment, studying the faces. I could see it, he was taking note of who claimed to be who. The girl seemed to be looking over herself, trying to understand her reflection as she pulled a black cloak around the boy and scolded him. Both were careful being quiet, but I couldn't help myself, I had to see what they were doing.

Though I was shocked when I actually managed to make it over there and heard both of them whispering. "I don't understand this any better than the next person, but I know what I see in my head, the stories." The boy whispered. "we need to get out of here. Soon they will begin to divide loyalty, the storm will get worse. Zeus was anything but merciful... is anything but merciful." The boy corrected himself. "Once these guys realize that there is more territory to be had, they will begin to divide up. Demigods will be the sought after heroes and some mortals will be chosen by the gods as well the demigods by their parents." The boy gritted his teeth. "Fighting will erupt and when the gods name their enemies." The boy seemed far more into this than what he already knew. He knew about this, beyond the basic knowledge we had... so some knowledge must have remained for some people. The knowledge and facts of this place, seemed to be the only thing which remained. "Let's go." The boy whispered, ducking out of the arena with the girl and running madly for their lives, as fast as their feet would allow them.

What a fool I was not to follow them.

War started the next day as the boy was right, people rose up in defiance, claiming that this was wrong, all of it wrong.

I spent a year running after that, never able to stay in one place, thankful for the instincts which came from those fake memories. All that time I spent thinking back to how that boy and girl had run.

I didn't know it then, but I was destined to meet them once again, in one world, or the next.


	3. Chapter 3

**So hi everyone! Thanks for taking the time to read my story! Warning: **story contains, OC's, BoyxBoy (don't like, then don't read), swearing, violence and mentions of abuse, character death and ratings may be turned up at a later time. Hope you have a nice day/night wherever you are!****

* * *

It's been a year now. A year since I opened my eyes as Lupo and found myself in a world I should have known nothing about. A world where Gods ran wild with power and rage a war across the earth and land itself. Already the stories which should have no place in my head, like my memories, had painted itself to reality among the rest of the world.

Like that strange boy had said on the first day. He had pretty much predicted all of it anyway.

Barely but a day after the incident in the arena, the war between those who were labelled as the Titans and the Olympian gods raged. The Titans had found themselves gifted in some ways, after all, the gods themselves seemed to love a good story and bit of entertainment. But in the end it had all come down to the stories which were painted into my mind. The gods had destroyed the Titans, not caring if they wiped out mortals and towns on their way to do it.

I should know, I had nearly been killed when Zeus had crushed mount Tartarus, earning it's name from us joiners as that was where the site of the war had mostly raged for the last year. Storms had raged every day and the gods had fought, wave after wave of Titans and their supporters. In other words, people who didn't want to stay in this place in a life which wasn't theirs. Those people had been banished either to the real Tartarus, a pit in the underworld where most of the Titans were imprisoned. Well, the luckier ones were. The rest of the titans were imprisoned, locked away or set with punishment according to their name double they were given by the gods.

I certainly didn't envy the guy who was named Prometheus, or Atlas.

The supporters were pushed away and cast with the monsters, as food, as their own kind, I'm not entirely sure. I didn't stick around the war zone long enough to find out. But the rumors that I heard when I moved from town to town was always the same. The monsters were cast along the road, put into freak shows, or banished to far islands, at least... when they weren't being hunted by the heroes or demigods.

I almost felt pity for them, well. I felt pity for the ones that had been forced into being a monster. You see, the rules concerning the gods had quickly been decided within the first few weeks. The kingdoms shall praise their almighty patrons, they shall offer tribute and respect the king they appointed. The gods shall be respected and obeyed always. Blah, blah, blah, a bunch of egocentric crap from a bunch of egomaniacs and comes to the interesting part.

Any person who banishes another's soul to the underworld? Not only was it instant fate to be sealed away in the fields of punishment, but also meaning that person was cursed, they would begin to change to a monster. Demigod, mortal or hero. It made no difference.

But it did make it more difficult to find out who was truly a monster and just those who were the victims, caught up in a skin they didn't belong in.

But so much had changed, some monsters packed together now, eager to get revenge against the mortals who would try to hunt them down, or their fallen friends. The gods were unable to be touched, after all, Olympus was beyond all our reaches, unless you was some miraculous Demigod or hero who had undertaken a special quest and been rewarded immortality by those above.

But the day that I begun to take my own quest came one cold morning in late September.

I had taken up rest next to the shore by a cave and now as my eyes began to slowly open, I could feel the cold breeze caressing my face gently, while the sunlight breathed itself across my tired eyes. My body ached and felt heavy like led, I felt so exhausted I could have easily slept the rest of the day away, but that both would have been no benefit to me and not possible.

After all.

I had no intention of being caught out by the morning search patrol. The last time I had, I had nearly got dragged to the local temple to pay my respects and forced into the town's guard. I had no intention to do either of those.

A lot had changed in the space of a year. I had spent most of it by myself, or with people who couldn't at least speak back very much. For example like right now.

I smiled slightly to myself as I heart a faint growling.

"Yeah, yeah I'm awake. Don't get yourself in a twist." I smirked, slowly siting up and looking down at my lap where the head of a lion and a goat. I knew this was probably one of the most weirdest ways that I have ever woken up in the morning, but something about this new mind told me, that it wasn't really all that strange, or as strange as a morning could be here.

The head of the lion let out a growl while the head of the goat merely bleated it's annoyance at being woken up so early by it's counter part. But only when the snake head tail hissed loudly, did both front heads shut up and the Lion rolled it's eyes. It had the golden coated fur of a lion and the body, though it's claws were longer and a hell of a lot sharper, then there was the dual heads at the front of it's body, and not to forget the large and long freaking snake cobra trail which hissed in annoyance before curling back up and going to back to sleep.

I was a bit unsure of Chimera's sometimes, whether it was three people put together or whether the one person who was there, just had a large factor of their personality, split into each head? But they were among some of the most loneliest out here along the shores. I did what I did to keep a lot of them company, but it was growing harder and harder. They were getting hunted more and more. All of them leaving for a place that I couldn't go.

There were two places which I couldn't step foot. Olympus and the Underworld. One I didn't have any intentions of ever going, and that certainly wasn't the Underworld.

Even now after a year, I hadn't done much. In the space of a year I had patrolled the shore of most Greek islands, leaving Athens and smuggling myself aboard a ship till I could get to the next island. Since then I had been here. Unsure exactly where I was, but more than happy to look around and keep the monsters company. Like for example this Chimera, or as I called them: Chimi.

I had been with them for about nearly four months now, since they had found me unconscious, starving, bleeding out and malnourished. My body had been giving out and my mind hadn't been that far behind it. The prospects of having one life missing and another trying to be crammed into my head, it wasn't easy. I had pretty much given up when I had gotten away from all the others, watching a war rage on around me, watching the world come unhinged for the benefit of someone else's entertainment.

But it seem's that Chimi, all parts of them had adopted me. They had nursed me back to my health, brought me food, water, kept me sheltered when patrols had come by. They had also taught me, at least, taught me enough that I had managed to survive these last months. They had taught me that the roles in Greece had already begun to change with a new hierarchy chain.

The Gods  
The Titans  
The Demigods and the Monsters  
The heroes  
The Mortals

But I didn't know where I belonged on that yet.

From the way that I've spent time with the Chimeras, I guess most would count me as a monster. Yeah, I bet you're surprised that monsters are so high on the hierarchy chain, but even if they don't realize it, the monsters certainly are powerful. Without the monsters the heroes or Demigods would have no one to hunt. But knowing the gods, from what I had seen so far, they would never run short of creatures to hunt or people to torture.

But I couldn't stay here, the longer I stayed here with them, the more I would get attached. I would come to get feelings for the way that they cared for me and looked after me. I would come to care for them and be even more so hurt when I finally had to turn around and leave them, just like I had to now. I was an unregistered and unidentified role as of yet. I had my story biography like every one else. Another life painted into my head, driving me mad to listen to it and embrace it as the real one, yet I fought it with every ounce of my will.

The moment I rose silently, I could hear the growl from the lion head as it stared at me with sad, broken eyes. They knew what I was going to do, I knew that over the last week as the demigod patrols or the city warriors had been getting closer, that we were losing our safety. They would find me and draft me into their city and slay Chimi on the spot. Even if I stayed behind to try and explain to them, they wouldn't care. Whether out of the reason that they couldn't stop themselves, or they didn't think about the reality of the situation. They would slay Chimi without any hesitation.

The lion purred sadly while the snake head rolled it's eyes at me, going back to sleep without another care. "Gee, I'll miss you too." I muttered, then turned my head back towards the lion head. "You kept me alive and save these last months." I said gently, crouching down to their height. They could have easily of just eaten me and that would have been all they would have needed to eat for another month. But they kept me alive. "I can't do anything. I'm sorry." I shook my head. "I have to leave, it's for your good and for mine."

Even as I said the words, I knew that I was spouting pure bull shit. I wasn't leaving them for their good. I was leaving for mine.

 _ **-break-**_

The roads were dusty and dark as I made my way down them, in what seemed to be an endless view of hills, oceans and villages, always making sure I never strayed too far from the main road and in the hills had my eyes looking to any place which could have been used to hide. I refused to say a silent prayer to Hermes, the guy could go and fuck himself for all I cared. But his 'children', they were the real problem. The prince of thieves and the king of taking what they wanted. They were swift, agile and knew exactly how to get into places you didn't want them to.

"Well maybe the bloody spell went wrong!" A voice suddenly barked around me and I dove, taking a shield behind a large boulder as I watched two figures begin to walk along the dusty road towards me, kicking up rocks and kicking them to the long green fields or hills. They were hard to look at, strangely. It was like every time that my eyes wanted to look, all I could see was two shadowed figures which made me want to look away.

 _What the hell?_ I frowned, trying to pour my focus and attention into what I was looking at, but it made now difference.

But I still had one sense which was working.

As they neared, I poured my attention into my hearing, trying as hard as I could to discern their words from the rising wind. "Oh ye of little faith!" A male voice laughed, while the first stern one only scolded him once more.  
"It wouldn't be the first time that one of your spells went wrong-"  
"Hey! You weren't complaining before when your sword broke!"  
"Because your spell backfired!"  
"Then got us out of that situation with the soldiers around here!" The boy snapped.

 _Hang on... Soldiers?_

 _"Well what do we have here."_

I turned, wishing that the weight of a hand on my shoulder, wasn't connected to what I thought it belonged to. I was begging that maybe it was some illusion, or maybe I had wondered into a trap of lotus blossoms.

But no.

I looked at the slender hand gripping into the tunic of my shoulder. The grip like cold steel while the face on my level just beamed from ear to ear. Cold ice like eyes regarded over me, examining me, evaluating me. Seeing my worth.

While I was already seeing there's.

Just like what ever else happened in this weird fucked up world, whenever one of us touched another, our stories, or at least, part of our story would surface and the other person would be able to understand it. If you was caught off guard and was special, like a demigod, then they could read you from beginning to end. "A loner eh?" The boy grinned.

But I was already deep into his head. _Child of Ares. Common. Soldier. Private. Lower class scout. Prefers sword. Slow at defense. Fast runner._ The facts clicked through my head like they had always been there.

When the boy noticed my glazed over look, he shoved me roughly back against the boulder and glared coldly at me. "You son of a bitch! You tried to Oracle me?!"  
 _In my defense, you were just inside me, and we barely had even had a first date yet!_ I thought snidely. _  
_"Only demigods and the great Oracle at Delphi have permission to read someone!"  
 _You barely count as either._ My thoughts kept snarling.

The boy stepped back slightly, drawing his sword out of the air and spinning it in his palm, giving me the first chance to look over him. Strong body but very slender, not much muscle. He was slightly pale though creeping tones of tan were working their way onto him. He wore only a leather loincloth with his weapon belt wound around his waist, and a red cloak the same colour as blood, trailed down his back.

 _Spartans._ I thought and groaned inside my head. _Why is it always Spartans!  
_ "You are unmarked!" The boy frowned, his short brown hair swaying slightly in the breeze. "You have no weapons! You are barely clothed! Who do you belong to! Are you some Athenian spy!"  
"What?! No!"

Worst case scenario. This guy thinks I'm an Athenian spy. Spartans and Athenians? That's like expecting Dionysus to only hold onto one glass of wine, or for Zeus to keep his dick in his tunic long enough that he can remember he's supposed to be married! Back to the point... If this guy thought I was an Athenian, he would kill me on the spot, and that would be very bad. I'm attached to my living body, very attached. I had no want or desire to go down to the underworld. I hadn't survived this long to just be killed because one scout had gotten lucky and found me.

"You're a cute one at least." The soldier muttered, looking me over. He seemed to be my age, but that's where the similarities ended. He was a dick and I was a bitch. He looked over me now like I was some common whore for him to fuck! I knew what happened when these guys got out into the other villages and raided for land. They would rape and take what ever they wanted!

And unfortunately, seeing as how I was unarmed, without armour, weaker than him, unsure as to whoever the hell I even was, or whether like these ass hole demigods, I even actually could fight back. Which I couldn't, without being turned into a monster! I could't do anything!

The worst part was that this boy knew it.

He smirked and looked me up and down. I still wasn't anything special, even if the rules in place was that I couldn't hurt him without turning into a monster, the moment I hit him, I would be waging war across with the rest of the Spartans, and making an enemy of Sparta, was something I did not want to do.

"Unmarked." He shook his head. "Now, now. We can't have that. For the honor of Sparta you will be my prisoner. You will be my prize of war and my slave in my household."

I looked out the corner of my eye but the two who had been on the road before, were no longer stood there. _Great! Well, just great! Thank you SOOO much for actually being of use! You two wankers will be the reason this tosser rapes me! THANK YOU FOR NOTHING!  
Oh, no problem._

I paused hearing the voice whisper into my mind.

 _Uh. Excuse me?_ I spoke in my head.  
 _Keep him busy, and maybe, I'll stop being a wanker long enough to save you._ The voice returned.

"Hey. What the hell are you doing." The boy growled and I instantly turned a smile onto him. Slowly bring a hand from the hem of my tunic and along my waist knowing there was only one way to distract a boy like this. If I couldn't fight him, then I would use the only other thing here which seemed to interest him.  
 _Smooth._ The voice whispered in my head.  
 _Do you have any other ideas!_ I barked.  
 _Yeah actually, I do. Now distract him!_

"Good. The last bitch I had fought for ages before accepting that I was going to take them." The Spartan grinned.  
"Well, why would I fight?" I beamed, slowly letting my fingers smoothly dance across my thigh, watching the boy's gaze follow every movement. "A son of Ares? The God of War."  
 _Keep going. Nearly there.  
That's what this guy will be saying if you don't hurry the fuck up! _I growled.  
"Ah, you have a good taste, I see." The boy grinned, walking forward, his hands gripping the hem of my tunic as he played with the material, moving closer and closer, his confidence growing.  
 _Oh please. Hurry up!_ I screamed in my head.  
"Yeah, I know everything about Spartans." I purred, feeling his hand move from my neck and begin to move lower, dancing across my chest.  
"Please do tell me." The boy grinned.  
 _Nearly.  
_ "Such strong warriors."  
 _Just a bit more.  
_ "So strong willed." I half lidded my eyes, weaving my arms around the back of his neck as his fingers moved around my navel, dancing on my nerves.  
"And what else?" The boy grinned.  
 _A few more seconds!  
_ "You're so-" I grinned. "So... so-"  
"Yes?" He grinned, leaning his head down towards mine.  
 _I'm READY!_ The voice sang.  
"Fucking stupid." I finished, watching him pause, before glaring down at me.

But it didn't matter.

Because at the moment I kneed him in the balls and dove back out of his grip, I watch him recoil and hold his head as words began to swarm around him. "Fear, pain, anguish, life, memory, regret, fate!" A voice yelled out behind me.

The spartan boy screamed and fell forward onto his knees, holding his head and staring with wide eyes before he passed out and hit the ground like a boulder.

I recoiled myself, trying to steadying my breathing before a pair of hands slammed onto my shoulder and I met the dark gaze of a black haired girl. "Hey, it's okay. You're fine. He didn't touch you did he?"  
"H-He was going to- He was-"  
"Son of Ares." The girl spat at the ground next to him, giving me a chance to look at her.

The moment I did, my jaw dropped.

"Only interested in fighting and sex." She paused for a moment then ran and kicked him in the balls, he didn't move but I knew that he would certainly be feeling sore when he woke up.  
"So what was that about my magic not working?"

I turned to look at the boy and felt my rage explode inside of me as I recognized the voice. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I screamed and lunged, only to have the girl grip my shoulder in a vice grip.  
"Easy there, you don't want to be doing that!" She said, still trying to calm me down.

The boy in front of me wore a large hood cloak of black and moon light silver trimmings. The material was a dark black fur, while the silver trimmings were star lace. A very rare material, very difficult to craft and even more difficult to use. But other than that the boy was a shock really. I saw on his brow that he was a glowing silver circlet which dangled an emerald heart onto his forehead, but his face was still hidden by the shadows of his hood.

He wore golden bands around his biceps and forearms which resembled shackles strangely the more that I looked at him. He had a white tunic which barely went down to his knees, but like his cloak which on further study, I saw trailed out behind him, his tunic had the same silver trimming. Only his black leather sandals which wound up to his knees, seemed to be normal about him.

The girl wore similar leather sandals but like the boy, that was where the similarities ended. He had soft bronze skin and she had skin like liquid gold, just a bit lighter than the boy's. She wore a deep purple cloak over her white flowing dress which was trimmed with gold. A long sword was sheathed in her belt, hidden from further inspection under the folds of her dress which connected to her wrist like wings. She was tall, strong and certainly powerful, where as the boy, he looked more timid and like one of the bratty Princes that I had witnessed on my travels.

"That's no way to treat someone who just saved your life." He muttered. "Your welcome by the way. But really. Travelling, unarmed, with no armour, looking the way you do and not covering up?"  
"Is that a compliment?" I snarled, glaring foully into his eyes.  
"If you take my meaning as anything other than me calling you an idiot. Then you have a strange perception of what I just said."  
"I'm gonna punch you." I stated impassively, with blank eyes.

I fell silent though as I watched burning eyes of purple and gold glare out from the shadows of the hood.

I got it, that was my one and only warning.

The girl behind me laughed and shook her head. "Come, the road is not safe. We are travelling to our ship at the docks, you can join us."  
"Thank you, but-"  
"Don't." The boy huffed, suddenly looking worse for ware. The girl immediately left my side and wrapped an arm around him.

Surprisingly, I found myself doing the same.

Well after all, I guess he had just saved me...

"Come, have supper with us." The girl said, taking off her cloak and wrapping it around my shoulders, hiding me from the view of anyone who may be in passing. "What about you! If they see you-"  
"Ha! You're kidding me!" The boy snarled in laughter. "She's useful. She'd chop their balls off before they even thought about going near her."  
"Gee! You're just brimming with kindness aren't you!" I barked at the boy, yet again, the girl burst into laughter.  
"Please, ignore my brother. It's nothing personal. He's a bitch to everyone."  
"And yet you still love me." He grinned, under his cloak hood.

The girl turned back to me with those dark eyes once again and I finally realized the situation I was in. They were going to bring me whether I liked it or not. But I still knew who they were... at least, I remembered who they were. I still remember seeing them flee from the arena, every night when I have the same nightmare. "Eat with us, drink, then we shall talk." She smiled.  
"Talk about what?"

She only grinned wickedly at that and the boy laughed. "Later." She said simply, beginning to set the lead path down the road towards the distant docks of the village on the horizon.

 _Oh god._ I thought. _What the hell have I just got myself into._


	4. Chapter 4

**So hi everyone! Thanks to those who favorite and follow this story! ^_^ Warning: **story contains, OC's, BoyxBoy (don't like, then don't read), swearing, violence and mentions of abuse, character death and ratings may be turned up at a later time. Hope you have a nice day/night wherever you are!****

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Apollo had rode across the mountains and now took solace on Olympus as his sister rose and took to her hunt.

The stars sparkled in awe like burning bright diamonds, the colour of the black was no longer that of a night, but more of a brilliant swirl of golden and white light among a purple background. Tones of blue sweeping with it, the distant ice speckled mountains blew a chilling breeze down across the land, the warmth of every day abandoning the bones of those who wondered along paths and travelers.

Me?

I was getting laughed at by the cloaked boy who trotted his horse next to me, where I dangled from the incredibly strong grip of the girl, hanging and kicking out at the air. "Seriously?" She asked. "If your first three escape attempts didn't work. Then why would your fourth and fifth one work either?"  
"Because, shut up!" I snapped.

Eventually I decided to save my strength and just dangle by the scruff of my tunic in her grip while the boy bellowed with harsh laughter. I was really growing to hate that boy more and more by the minute. But every time that dark shadowed hood turned my way, I would feel something in my mind take over and whisper. Like an instinct and warning. To understand the chain of power and watch it. To bide my time but to respect him, to know my place and remember it.

They wouldn't have saved me had they not wanted me to stay alive... for a little bit longer at least.

Right now we were along the dusty road of some forgotten place which I knew I should knew nothing about, but just like the rest of the things in my mind which didn't make sense, this place just did.

We had been travelling since they had freed me just after dawn.

Apollo loved toying with the days, making them longer and more torturous for us.

Escape attempt one had been when I made a brunt shove to the girl and sprinted off, but she grabbed me without hesitation, almost like she had been truly counting down the seconds to see just how really long It would take me to make the first run.

So I waited after that. We passed through village after village, silently moving through the shadows, never taking any chance of walking in the main paths or down the most populated roads in villages. I watched them, carefully, every spare glance that I had, I used it to study them. To evaluate what position I was in, whether I was fast enough, whether they were heavily armed enough that my speed alone would manage to beat them.

But the boy almost seemed to have taken that into quiet consideration as we had reached the first village. He had gone off, only to return back with a horse with a coat like snow and a saddle a little worn with fresh golden trimming. But my eyes lingered on the horse; so light and beautifully clean, but with legs that looked like iron and with eyes that blazed nearly with black fire. I could sense it from the moment I had locked eyes on the steed, he was an ordinary horse. Certainly not by anyone's standards.  
"Where did you get that!?" The girl had exclaimed, looking over him with a frown.  
"We all have our secrets." The boy had muttered in response, keeping his head low before taking off out the village with the speed of a storm, leaving the girl to watch over me till we had met back up with him half an hour later on the road outside the village. The horse gave me a knowing look and snorted at me before turning back in the path of the road and setting pace with the girl.

Which brought my calculations to a further worry.

I had enough stamina to outlast the two of them, but that wouldn't do me much good. The boy had the horse to help him run me down should I get too far away... that had been attempt three, but I'll get to that in due course.

I still didn't trust either of them just yet not to kill me, which just drove my senses all the more wild to run.

But there was something I knew at least so far. I may not have been able to see if they were carrying strong weapons, but from the way they held themselves I had to acknowledge that I was with two of the types of people I had been trying heavily to avoid over the horrid nightmare of the last year.

I could tell what they were, it was easy, the way that the girl held herself so perfectly and walked with such a stride. Her brute strength didn't need to show me that I was right, but just by the intense way that her gaze burned from under her cloak. What was she? Who was she. I had seen eyes cold and harsh like that only a few times on close encounters.

Which brings me to escape attempt two.

Just as we had been leaving the village we had gone through in the afternoon and was going through a meadow like area with a few trees, I had begun to grow more desperate, listening less to the warnings in my head, to the whispers which told me to wait, to be more patient. _You fool! Take my warning! You have to listen to me!_

But I had taken no heed.

I had spun and kicked her in the face, running as fast as my legs would carry me, which was quite fast. I took everything in stride, not stopping once, not faltering in any form of step as I leapt and bounded over each cobble stone wall I approached.

My body felt brilliant! I felt light as a feather, I felt that I could keep going forever like this! Like a muscle inside of me was screaming out in joy at the fact that I was taking such a breakneck speed, but at the same time it howled out in anger and fury at me. It chided me and snarled at me for leaving those two. The image of the cloaked boy panting for breath flared into my mind.

Why did I think of him? Was it guilt for leaving him like this after they had saved me?

Maybe he had been there against his will, like me, maybe he was just acting. He had been the one who had made that guard fall unconscious.

I shook my head, but in my hesitation and thinking, my speed had slowed, the trembling echo which reverberated out through me like a sudden shock wave had my eyes widening and my heart racing. A stab burned inside of me and screamed at me, it was not from running the way I was. I knew that much, but still it savagely took hold on me. The further out I ran now, it whined till it was all I could think of. _Stop! We must go back! We must!  
No! _I fought with all my will.  
 _No choice now._ It whispered back to me.

My head turned just in time to see the shadow of purple swoop down on me and a hand to crush onto my face, lifting me off the ground. I screamed out and kicked to the air but now she held me at arm's length. "We are only trying to help!" She snarled, her voice cold and growing less fonder by the second, but it was more now like she was an tired parent, explaining to a stubborn child why they must not do a certain thing, like poke a thorn on a rose.

She had dragged me back and I had watched the boy, still hidden beneath his hood like she was. But I could feel those eyes still on me. Those same eyes which like before scolded over me. "Are you okay?" She asked him and the boy nodded ever so slightly. "Are you sure? I know what using those-" She paused, looking at me ever so slightly from the corner of her dark burning eyes. "I know what it does to you! You need to be more careful! You're over doing it-"  
"Cut it out!" He snapped coldly. His hand moving slowly to his chest, to something obviously I couldn't see beneath his tunic. "I'm fine."

They fell into silence after that.

This now brings me to escape attempt number three!

I had been studying them as the time had shifted more into the late afternoon. The girl had kept her eyes on me the majority of the time, surprise glanced shifted to me every hour or so, especially when they had to stop and I just shrugged. My stamina seemed to surprise them just as much as it seemed to shock me.

But this is where I had made my third attempt at escape.

We had stopped. The girl had already begun to set up a temporary camp, setting out a sheet of soft cloth for us all to sit on. The boy had his hidden face turned up towards the sun. His fists gripped tightly on the reigns and I swear that for a single moment, I caught sight of something falling. My eyes picking out the amazingly small detail as though that my vision had been heightened suddenly. A sharpness struck my ribs like it had before, but I couldn't focus on that now... All I could do was watch as though all of a sudden in a slowed moment I could only watch something like a pearl drop and glisten, before it broke apart and vanished.

I could have sworn that what I saw was a fallen tear.

He was distracted- _Now!_ I thought.  
 _NO!_

I lunged forward while the girl was crouched. They were siblings, that's reason enough to worry about one another, but he was weak. If I was right from what I had seen, from the way that she stood by him like a tall guardian.

I lifted myself off the ground in a leap and punched the boy square on the side of his face and into his gut.

The moment my fist made contact I felt the sharp pain return with a force as the gesture I just made felt mirrored against me. "Cuore!" The girl exclaimed, her ragefull eyes turning suddenly on me as I sprinted away, but just like I thought, she ran to her brother first.

I had to regain my breathing and try to steady myself, but the pain remained, like it was branding itself onto my abdomen with a fire of a thousand suns. Each of them hotter and more intense than the last. I only hissed as I landed back on the ground, watching the boy slip from the horse which reared angrily at me. But even the steed seemed to realize it's mistake as the boy hit the dusty road hard, it turned and laid next to him while the girl screamed bloody rage at me.

My legs took me off sprinting though.

 _You shouldn't have done that!_ My thoughts roared with rage at me. My eyes seemed to turn without my will to stare back at him, to make sure he was alright. He was sat up, gasping for breath, but seemed fine, the fall hadn't hurt him any worse than I had. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!" The girl screamed at me.  
If only she knew I already was.

I took off into the nearby trees as fast as I could. The trees around me becoming towering kings and guardians the further I went in. I saw some girls and boys as I sprinted past, they would just laugh at me or giggle, sticking their heads out of the trunks of trees, and yes I mean literally.

Nymphs.

Although my mind told me that there should only be female ones, that wasn't what the expectation was any more. Nymphs were male, female, young or old, but always incredibly beautiful. Connected to their trees or flowers, or other various plants, they could run with the best of them. I always found myself surprise when I could match their speed, but I found solace in it. Even if I didn't know where I belonged, I always liked to imagine that I was maybe a nymph... even if I didn't act like one, or looked like one, they always welcome me with open arms, at least, after a while. They always turned their noses up slightly at first, but when they saw how lightly I stepped through their domain, they always ended up giving me a smile or whispering to me.

It was unfair that I was bringing those two through this area. I was putting them at risk. But this was the easiest place to hide!

But I needed to get away from those two.

A thought which was only encouraged when I heard the loud pounding of hooves and snort of breath as with a ghost like wail, the horse and it's black cloaked figure roared through the trees next to me. The horse smashed the ground as it beautifully roared with speed. It's black mane flailed wildly just like the cloak of it's rider which billowed behind them, moving through the air like living black flames.

But when it's eyes locked onto me, I swear that my heart nearly stopped.

They were dead, dead and drowned with anger and without mercy, flickering every now and then like black mist taking a shape of a person. Each writhing in their own horror and shape, but always the same, dead and cold, yet so fully alive, it made my heart race so hard I thought I was going to stop breathing, making fear flood through my body like a eruption or explosion.

"Oh my god." I whispered, my legs nearly giving out behind me.

 _The cursed horseman._ I thought, my fear screaming out as I remembered the rumors I had been hearing quietly.

Whenever I had been forced to go through towns I had always listened out to what people were saying. _The cursed horseman_ was certainly among one of the leading rumors of the towns. Some stories went that he was a messenger of Thanatos or Hades, come to collect names of the souls of the dead, or to carry them off to the underworld. Some said that he was a soul who had escaped death and now was forever riding through the land, forced never to rest but always look over his shoulder for fear of being taken to the fields of punishment.

But there was one story that everyone always agreed on.

It is said that he had been cursed by the gods in his life. He was the reason why so many of us were terrified to be caught unmarked to a city and unclaimed by a patron if we were on the roads. The boy had been running from the cities, completely by himself, his only companion had gone off, to get a taste of the life which had been offered to this world.

In offer words, they had fallen to the memories and life which constantly was in all of our heads.

But the boy had been completely by himself, when someone had come past asking for directions to the gorgon cave. The boy knew what Perseus intended to do, he felt sorry for Medusa, he knew what would await her should he send the son of Zeus in the right direction. So he tricked Perseus, making the son of Zeus take the wrong path and delay his quest, giving Medusa just enough time that she could get away and go on the run to find new territory.

Zeus was outraged that the boy had done that. The boy was a demigod so he couldn't kill him, he could not be bothered with the arguments that it would bring up among the other gods if he killed the child, especially since that he didn't know who the demigod was a child of. So he descended down to the world in a blaze of lightning.

The boy tried to run but Zeus only laughed mockingly and took the boy on the cold ground. Upon seeing how beautiful the boy was, the god decided that he could teach the child obedience another way.

A way which the Spartan soldier had almost done to me.

Except unlike me, the boy had no one there to save him.

A passing son of Poseidon had witnessed the altercation and had tried coming to the boy's rescue, but only had been struck down by Zeus' lightning bolt. The god had mockingly taunted the now raped boy, saying the other child hadn't needed to have died and left.

But as the story goes. The boy was a demigod, and not just any old child of any old god.

The boy's mother had appeared to him, to try and help him, to console him after Zeus' rough punishment, but upon looking at the child she had decided that he would one day take his revenge against Zeus. She could see the hatred in the boy's heart and she was torn. So she decided to give the boy a gift. He would no longer ride through the night alone or weak.

She breathed life into the corpse of the son of Poseidon and watched as the boy fell on all fours, till he stood as an almighty black steed. She draped her son and covered him, masking his face so that no one may ever see the pain left by Zeus, or the boy's broken eyes.

Since then the boy had rode through the night, a constant protector to those who wonder down the paths alone. He would guide them and bring brutal and swift justice to those who would abuse other.

But he took a sick delight in bringing back justice to the children of Zeus who would abuse their strength.

At least that was how he had started. The tales go onto say that it was never enough for him, his malice and anger turned him bitter. Anyone who he came across or fell under his hated eyes would have their hearts eaten, freshly ripped out their chests.

He was a figure I had come to fear and admire. He was just another cursed person who was called a monster. I knew the stories and the gods enough that I could believe Zeus' treatment of the boy.

But now as I was running along side him, with the pitch black hood turning in my direction and that ghostly wail a chorus of music in the air. I found my admiration was gone and only pure fear remained.

Suddenly with a bang and smash I went rolling to the ground, narrowly only managing to turn and dodge as a hoof slammed down into the ground next to my head.

The horse and it's rider were above me.

The one I had been watching was only a trick. A illusion which dissipated into mist as it sank through the earth. However the steed and horseman in front of me were certainly real.

A steed, with a coat blacker than the pits of Tartarus. It's rider wearing a cloak of living black flames and darkness. Their face masked and hidden with a armour of shadows. But still I didn't dare raise my eyes high enough to meet his gaze anyway. He wore a torn tunic, probably the same one he had worn when Zeus had raped him. It was crystal white but was splattered with fresh blood from where wounds seemed permanently etched onto the boy's chest. His skin was pale, deathly pale, probably from having to always constantly be cursed with eternal bleeding and only ever being able to come out in the dark places of the world. His feet were bare and rested on either side of a crimson saddle where he sat upon the horse's back with ink and crimson reigns.

He was a sight and a pure horror to behold. A story of someone who had been just mistreated, for trying to help someone no one else would. Now here he was. Under his cloak of fire and shadows, the image of the young boy who was brutally attacked and abused. The only company he had left was the steed, a person trapped in a body of something they were not. The only person to have come to the boy's aid, now his eternal companion. "Y-You're real." I whimpered, pushing myself back slightly against the grass.

The horse reared and let out a roar like noise, not a sound any normal horse would make, but a sound which had me slamming myself to the ground as it's call sent fear exploding through me. _This is why people hardly ever live to be able to escape him._ I thought, staring with horror as my heart was close to finally giving in. _They're too scared. They're paralyzed with fear! How can you ever fight back when you're this scared!_

A gentle whisper from above me and the horse slammed it's feet down into the space in front of me, making me scream out and throw myself back against a tree, cowering in fear which was not of my own. My hand slammed around my torso in some effort to try and stop my heart from racing like this. My breathing was becoming harder. I couldn't last much longer like this!

But when the boy finally left his horse and his ice pale foot touched the floor? That was something else entirely.

The sunlight seemed to have drained from the tree covers, leaving me with this threat as everything else was becoming dark. His very presence was poison to the light, it was like his hatred, his anger, his fury couldn't help but take form around me. I could feel it, this was all because of him. The fear, the petrifying, absolute explosion of fear, this was the fear that he had felt when he was raped. This was what it had been like for him when the god had callously taken him. Now he was making me know just how he had felt. His eyes hidden behind his visor of iron and steel, his cloak breathing the fire of the underworld at me.

He took a step towards me slowly.

The world was fading and-  
"NO GODS NO!" I screamed, on the brink of insanity and throwing myself to my feet in the direction of the way I had come into the tree cover. Running faster, faster than I would ever allow myself.

I kept looking over my shoulder, every shadow, every poise of life, everything was a threat for him to return to me from. He could easily kill me. His horse could run me down and crush me. He could plunge his hand into my heart and rip it free of my chest.

He could-

 _THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP_

I didn't want to but I turned my gaze over my shoulder, seeing the black silhouette of rider and horseman coming after me in the distant, closing in face.

"PLEASE! NO!" I screamed. "LEAVE ME ALONE! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE-"  
"Whoa, whoa! Hey there!"

Two hands gripped onto my shoulder and turned me to face them, I trembled violently under their grip, screaming about what I had just seen, trying desperately to break free to run.

I don't remember much after that. Only the girl taking me back to their camp where the boy was sat. He casually looked up from under his hood and looked at me for a long minute where I was still babbling about what I had just seen. I was imploring them we had to run.

The boy looked back down and carried on eating.

For a while after that I had been to shaken, trembling for the majority of the rest of the day.

Only now as we had come to the docks and were going bellow deck on a long Trireme, did I make a break on the stairs after on my fourth attempt having tried to run off on the docks and jump into the sea, but this time only the boy slammed his fist out into my fist, which in all fairness, I had literally run into. "I'm getting really sick of this now." He growled. "You're lucky that you're precious to _them_." He leaned forward slowly into my face just as he pulled his hood down to reveal his pure golden eyes which shined like the most precious metal which kings craved. His face sharp and angular which matched his slender and thin frame.

He was beautiful. If I hadn't seen of him what I had so far, then I would have thought of him as a son of Aphrodite for his sheer beauty. But for what ever his beauty there was a hatred in his eyes as he adjusted his black tunic and pulled off his cloak, slowly walking his horse down the sturdy steps to the lower bowels of the ship where apparently there was a stable area. But he stopped just long enough to hiss in the most elegant purr into my face,"because to me. You're more fucking trouble than you're worth!" His eyes bore into me one last time and his horse slammed past me as both walked down into the ship, leaving me with the girl.  
"Cuore, try and not make him want to leave!" The girl called after her brother but just watched as he replied with nothing.

She turned her eyes onto me and I felt the ship finally begin to move beneath my feet while those above shouted their orders. The sound of feet busying themselves and oars piercing the sea finally set my ideas of escape aside. I gritted my teeth and let out an exasperated breath. It was out of my hands now. I had tried everything, but at every attempt I had failed. What ever these two wanted me for, they would get it now.

The girl lowered her hood and sighed slightly. "It's nearly time for introductions now." She pushed for a smile and I felt myself growing more wary. "You haven't made it easy but at least we got the job done." She patted me on the back and began herding me down a length of the ship, going deeper and deeper till we were three or four decks down.

As we came to two heavy large doors, she paused and looked me in the eye. "I understand, that you didn't want to come here. But I think that you are going to be just what we needed. After all, even Cuore wouldn't go to this much trouble, although he would say otherwise. But we're desperate." She sighed. "And we're growing short of time."  
"Short of time with what-"

But that was when she fell silent and pushed open the two large doors, leading us into what I believed was a simple dining area. Plates and various food pantries were set aside, the floor was carpeted and many of the walls lined with books. A large table took up the majority of the room, going from wall to wall but making me feel slightly intimidated in the closed space. I always preferred to be outside, not cramped into some small area like a beast in a cage.

After a minute or so I finally locked my eyes onto what I guess the girl had been waiting for me to notice.

A boy and girl sat at the table next to each other. The girl sat with long red hair and fair pale skin. Her eyes were like amber, glistening in the swinging lantern's light. She was hunched forward with her fingers laced together. Her gaze intelligent, studious and cold. She was thin and wore a simple white dress, like the other girl, though hers had red trimming. Her figure was petite and thin but I got the feeling in my gut that I should not think of her as weak.

The boy however had ink black hair like my own. His eyes were dark and hard set, yet I could see he was trying to push for a comforting smile. He was pale and had sharp features, he was thin but certainly strongly built up. It was easy to see without his weapon that he was a sportsman. His tunic was black as ink but the cloak around his shoulders moved ever so slightly with the creak of the ship, like he was in a breeze instead of locked away from it. "Hi." He smiled gently and indicated to the seat in front of him and the girl.

So sue me. I took one last chance and threw myself around, ready to sprint off, but only found Cuore's sister, that had been the bitchy blonde's name right? She now just looked at me and rolled her eyes. "He's persistent." She grinned.  
"Listen, I don't know what the hell all of you want-"  
"I'm sorry that we have had to do all this, this way." The black haired boy said gently, drawing my attention back around to him and the red head girl. "But it was necessary."

The red head kept her eyes sternly on me but stayed silent while the boy continued. "Please take a seat and we can begin."  
"Begin what?!" I exclaimed. "What do you want and who the hell are you!"  
"The rebellion." The red head stated, watching me carefully, her eyes becoming slightly softer as she watched how tense I was. "My name is Asuna and this is Kirito. We're the people who are going to save you and take you home."


End file.
